Duchess of York and Christopher Eccleston to sue over News of The World phone hacking

The Duchess of York and Christopher Eccleston, the actor, are to sue Newsgroup
Newspapers claiming they are the victims of phone hacking.

The Duchess of York claims her phone was hacked by the News of The WorldPhoto: East News / Rex Features

1:40PM BST 17 Sep 2012

The Duchess of York and Christopher Eccleston, the actor are to sue Newsgroup Newspapers claiming they are the victims of phone hacking.

More than 80 people, ranging from Prince Andrew's former wife to politicians Stephen Byers, former leader of the Labour party Neil Kinnock, and his wife Glenys have issued proceedings against Newsgroup Newspapers.

They claim they are victims of phone hacking, the practice of listening to mobile phone messages or intercepting phone calls, and are demanding damages from Newsgroup, part of the News International publishing empire.

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch closed down the News of the World in July 2011 after public revulsion at revelations that the mobile phone of murdered schoolgirl Millie Dowler had been hacked, as well as the voicemail messages of members of the Royal family.

Since then a string of celebrities have appeared before the Leveson Inquiry to allege that their private messages were listened to, and the police have mounted three related investigations - operation Weeting, into alleged phone hacking, operation Tuleta, into computer hacking and breaches of privacy, and operation Elveden, alleged corrupt payments to public officials.

Actress Tamsin Outhwaite, Uri Geller, barrister Elizabeth Saunders, who husband was shot by police, and Major Mark Cann, chief executive of the British Forces Foundation, are also suing News International.

All the claims are against Newsgroup Newspapers and some of those suing are also seeking damages from private investigator Glen Mulcaire.

A case management conference will start on September 25 and is expected to last three days; this conference will decide how the legal cases are to go ahead.

The claims have been allocated to Chief Master Winegarten, a procedural judge who will hear initial stages of the claims.

So far 124 people have been accepted into the compensation scheme run by News International, News Group's parent company, and the company has paid £600,000 to singer Charlotte Church, £40,000 to comedian Steve Coogan, and £68,000 to former footballer Paul Gascoigne, among others.